Russian time zones: (painfully slow) progress report

[Arthur David Olson]

I don't know Russian which will make the following
more convoluted than need be; I apologize in advance.

We have reports of Russian time zone changes in 2011,
as well as issues identified by Tobias Conradi.

Sanjeev Gupta provided this link...
        http://government.consultant.ru/page.aspx?1223966
...to Russian Government Decree #23 of 1992-01-08;
eight ".png" scan files are available.

1992 Decree sections have bold headings; the headings include (in sequence):
    "2-M 3-M"
    "3-M 4-M"
    "4-M 5-M"
    "5-M 6-M"
    "6-M 7-M"
    "7-M 8-M"
    "8-M 9-M"
    "9-M 10-M"
    "10-M 11-M"
    "11-M 12-M"
The sections seem to cover time zones from west to east.

"московское" ("Moscow") appears in the "2-M 3-M" section.
"Магаданская" ("Magadan") appears in the "10-M 11-M" section.
The difference of eight between "2" and "10" matches the difference
in hours between Moscow time and Magadan time.
So we should have these associations:

    "2-M 3-M"    Moscow
    "3-M 4-M"    Moscow+1
    "4-M 5-M"    Moscow+2
    "5-M 6-M"    Moscow+3
    "6-M 7-M"    Moscow+4
    "7-M 8-M"    Moscow+5
    "8-M 9-M"    Moscow+6    Asia/Yakutsk
    "9-M 10-M"    Moscow+7    Asia/Vladivostok
    "10-M 11-M"    Moscow+8    Asia/Magadan
    "11-M 12-M"    Moscow+9

Alexander Krivenyshev provided this link...
    http://www.government.ru/gov/results/16355/print/
...to Russian Government Decree #725 of 2011-08-23.

"Усть-Майский" ("Ust-Maya" or "Ust-Maysky" or "Ust'-Majskij")
appears in the "8-M 9-M" (Moscow+6, Asia/Yakutsk) section of 1992's Decree
23.
This matches 2011's Decree 725.
It does not match the commentary in tzdata2011k's "europe" file,
which has the area in Moscow+7, Asia/Vladivostok.
Counter comments should be added.

"Булунский" ("Bulun" or "Bulunskij")
appears in the "8-M 9-M" (Moscow+6, Asia/Yakutsk) section of 1992's Decree
23.
This matches 2011's Decree 725.
It does not match the commentary in tzdata2011k's "europe" file,
which has the area in Moscow+7, Asia/Vladivostok.
Counter comments should be added.

"Томпонский" ("Tomponsky" or "Tomponskij")
appears in the "9-M 10-M" (Moscow+7, Asia/Vladivostok) section of 1992's
Decree 23.
2011's Decree 725 has it at Moscow+6, Asia/Yakutsk.
tzdata2011k's "europe" file has it as part of Asia/Vladivostok.
It must have shifted at some unknown instant between 1992 and 2011;
we need a new zone (Asia/Khandyga) for Tomponsky.

"Оймяконский" ("Oimkayon" or "Ojmyaknoskij")
appears in the "9-M 10-M" (Moscow+7, Asia/Vladivostok) section of 1992's
Decree 23.
This matches 2011's Decree 725.
It does not match the commentary in tzdata2011k's "europe" file,
which has the area in Moscow+8, Asia/Magadan.
Counter comments should be added.

"Сахали" ("Sakhalin")
appears in the "9-M 10-M" (Moscow+7, Asia/Vladivostok) section of 1992's
Decree 23;
I can't find any instance of "Курильский" or "Курильские" ("Kuril") in
1992's decree.
2011's Decree 725 has most of the Sakhalin Oblast (including the
"South-Kuril region")
at Moscow+7 and has the "North-Kuril region" at Moscow+8.
tzdata2011k's "europe" file has an Asia/Sakhalin zone
and no Kuril zones (but some Kuril comments).
tzdata2011k's Asia/Sakhalin is Moscow+8 until 1997-03-20 02:00:00,
Moscow+7 thereafter; Gwillim Law's IATA SSIM research
led to the conclusion that Sakhalin (in particular, Yuzhno-Sakhalin)
switched in 1997 (while all the Kurils remained at Moscow+8).
We need a new zone (Asia/Severo-Kirilsk) for North-Kuril if that area was
indeed Moscow+7 in 1992 and is Moscow+8 now.
We need a new zone (Asia/Yuzhno-Kirilsk) for South-Kiril if that area did
indeed begin to differ from Asia/Sakhalin in 1997.

"Новосибирск" ("Novosibirsk")
appears in the "5-M 6-M" (Moscow+3) section of 1992's Decree 23.
2011's Decree 725 also has Novosibirsk at Moscow+3.
However, tzdata2011k's "europe" file claims that it was at Moscow+4 until
1993-05-23.

"Томская" ("Tomsk")
appears in the "5-M 6-M" (Moscow+3) section of 1992's Decree 23.
2011's Decree 725 also has Tomsk at Moscow+3.
However...
        http://newsru.com/russia/01may2002/clock.html
...claims that it switched from Moscow+4 to Moscow+3 on 2002-05-01
(if translate.google.com is correct).

We also have...
    # From Stanislaw A. Kuzikowski (1994-06-29):
    # But now it is some months since Novosibirsk is 3 hours ahead of
Moscow!
    # I do not know why they have decided to make this change;
    # as far as I remember it was done exactly during winter->summer
switching
    # so we (Novosibirsk) simply did not switch.
    # Tomsk is still 4 hours ahead of Moscow.
...which would indicate that Novosibirsk and Tomsk switched from Moscow+4 to
Moscow+3
(and at different instants to boot).

It looks as if we need an Asia/Tomsk zone (Tomsk being the most populous
city in
Tomsk Oblast). Since folks in Tomsk can use the Novosibirsk rules for
current times,
I'd hope to get better information on time history in Tomsk and Novobirsk
(in particular if and when there were transitions from Moscow+4 to Moscow+3)
before creating the new zone.

                --ado
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